https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/theories-reading
TRADITIONAL VIEW
DOLE (1991): readers acquire a set of hierarchy ordered sub-skills that build toward comprehension ability
NUNAN (1991): (BOTTOM-UP APPROACH) reading is a matter os decoding graphemes and linking them to the appropriate phonemes to make sense
MCCARTHY (1999): (OUTSIDE-IN APPROACH) meaning exists in the printed page and needs interpreting by the reader
Criticised as being insufficient due to the key focus only being on lexis and text structure.
COGNITIVE VIEW
GOODMAN (1967): (TOP-DOWN APPROACH) reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game and readers make hypotheses which the reject or confirm and the process repeats
RUMELHART (1977): (SCHEMA THEORY) if our schemata are incomplete and do not provide an understanding of the data presented to us then we have problems processing the text
Emphasis is on interaction and construction of concepts.
METACOGNITIVE VIEW
KLEIN (1991): readers utilise strategies:
*identify purpose of text
*identify form/type
*identify general character features of form
*projecting author's purpose
*scanning or reading in detail
*making continuous predictions on what's to come
Thinking about what you're doing whilst reading.
Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Tuesday, 30 May 2017
''THE LOST COCKNEY VOICE'':
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p051fhqs
*''Queen's Cockney'' = half Cockney and half Queen's English (current day example: Dot/June Brown from East Enders). Acquired around war time when the Queen's English accent was broadcasted on the radio and those listening would adopt aspects of it.
*Prejudices displayed towards Cockney's. Parents told their children ''you won't get a job if you don't speak properly''. Connotations of Cockney were ''commoners'' that were ''thick'' and of ''lower social class''.
*Cockney's used to live in a close-knit community until post-war when they started to spread out and Estuary English was produced.
*Younger generations were no longer influenced by the radio like their parents and grandparents as cinema became the key force, bringing in American variations of language.
*In the 90s, Estuary English became more fashionable and even those in power used it as a tactic to appear more approachable - Tony Blair.
*June Brown - aware of her ability to pick up and drop the Queen's Cockney accent depending on her location and who she was with.
*Although Cockney is a dying voice, due to the housing prices in London meaning young people can't afford to live there, the new equivalent today is Multicultural London English (MLE) and it also suffers the negative connotations of Cockney.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KdVoSS_2PM
*The One Show film exploring MLE and where it comes from. Linguists have found influences from all over, including Greece and Africa but it still maintains aspects of Cockney from which it developed. EG: th fronting (the use of the fricative sound f in replacement of the voiceless dental fricative th).
*The shift has occurred over one generation and therefore is continuing to grow - MLE is a dialect as well as an accent as its users create new slang and use it depending on how trendy or popular it is. This indicates that its growth is not over and could never be.
Thursday, 25 May 2017
FEEDBACK/KEY TARGETS:
DIALECT LEVELLING:
http://erinslanguageblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/time-to-say-ta-ra-to-ar-ere-accents.html
*state audience
*caption image (make use of text conventions)
*ending should come back to argument - should we speak more similarly?
*good voice/style
*needs to examine pros and cons of argument with more AO2 detail
*link more to source material
COMPARISON OF DAILY MAIL AND THE GUARDIAN:
*reference to diachronic language change in intro
*be more objective
*analyse, don't describe
*analyse techniques in Humphrys quote
*keep to academic register
*needs more close terminological analysis of meanings and representations
PRESCRIPTIVISM VS DESCRIPTIVISM:
*'prescriptivism vs descriptivism' needs adapting
*continue the extended metaphor in the title
*prescriptivism is too broad, modify it to 'linguistic prescriptivism'
*work on guiding and positioning the reader
*needs more support for David Crystal's argument throughout for increased cohesion
*more AO2
*focuses are cohesion and guiding reader
LANGUAGE AND GENDER:
*needs title - artificial sexism and new/old ideas about language or teaching people how they should talk
*use conventions -picture of robot and caption about AIs learning stereotypes
*more of a hook or reason for writing - Baxter's theory applied to May?
*use synonyms like hypothesis to avoid repetition of 'theory'
*more detail about how theories have built on Lakoff's deficit, despite it being problematic
*more on the idea of teaching the value of women's language so apologising for linguistic choices is no longer necessary
*more theory like Cameron
Friday, 5 May 2017
CLA QUESTIONS:
SPOKEN LANGUAGE
1. What is phonemic expansion and contraction? Explain why this happens.
Occurs during the babbling stage, the number of different phonemes used increases (expansion). However later on at 9 to 10 months the child discards the phonemes (contraction) that aren't part of their native vernacular as they won't need them to communicate. Studies on babies of varying nationalities support this as they make different babbling sounds.
2. How is turn-taking encouraged in early speech development? Why is it important?
Games are often used to teach the 'rules' of turn-taking, such as passing a ball between each other. Children are also told it's 'Mummy's turn' or 'your turn'. Imitation is also key in turn-taking as it signifies anticipation for a turn as well as how to respond.
3. What is a phoneme and what is a grapheme?
A phoneme is the smallest unit of distinct sound from a word and words are made up of multiple phonemes. Whereas a grapheme is the smallest unit of a word in a writing system, like a certain letter or group of letters.
4. Which phonemes develop later than others? Whose research (‘Fis’ phenomenon) suggests it is articulation rather than not knowing the difference?
Consonants at the ends of words tend to be the last to be fully developed - this is seen in the 'Fis' phenomenon as the child was unable to produce the blended phoneme 'sh'. However this also demonstrates that the child can comprehend the correct phoneme to use before they possess the motor ability to produce the sound.
5. What is a protoword?
Protowords are words (typically cv patterns) such as 'gaga' and 'baba' that mimic the real word the child is attempting to say. For example: Deb Roy's son in his transition to using the word water started saying 'gaga' then 'wawa' - the protoword.
6. What is a holophrase?
A holophrase is the first stage of meaningful speech in the prelinguistic stage, where one word is used to express a whole concept/idea (holophrasis). Eg: A child will say 'up' when they want picking up or 'food' when they are hungry.
7. What are the four categories of first words according to Katherine Nelson (1973)?
Naming things - ball, dog, cat, pen
Actions - give, put, up
Social - no, hi, bye-bye
Modifiers - nice, more, that, this
8. What is positive reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is encouraging a behaviour by giving a reward such as praise, a smile or a physical treat.
9. What is negative reinforcement?
Negative reinforcement is the act of taking away a negative stimulus as a reward for executing a desirable linguistic behaviour.
10. Explain the following stages of children’s linguistic development according to Jean Aitchison:
a. Labelling - linking words to objects and understanding that things can be given names
b. Packaging - exploring where these labels are applicable and stretching these names = over/underextension occurs until confident in meaning
c. Network-building - understanding similarities and differences in words and identifying differences
11. Explain the following stages of children’s linguistic development according to Piaget:
a. Sensorimotor - (Birth - 2 YO) Child is learning about the world through their movements. Object permanence and other ideas are learnt through assimilation and accommodation.
b. Pre-operational -(2 - 7 YO) Use words and images to represent objects/ideas, linking symbols to concepts. Very egocentric and think about things in concrete terms although their language is improving.
c. Concrete operational - (7 - 11 YO) Gain logical thinking processes, understanding conservation and applying these reasoning skills.
d. Formal operational - (12 YO +) Abstract thinking applied to theoretical problems and concepts, more ethical and social debates with reasoning.
12. What is Mean Length Utterance (MLU) and what can it tell us about a child’s language proficiency?
The mean length of utterance is a measure of the number of morphemes (the smallest unit of a word with meaning) in an utterance (an approximate sentence of speech). We assume that the higher the MLU, so the more morphemes per utterance, the more complex the speaking ability of the child.
13. Define the following stages in terms of a child’s grammatical development:
a. One word/holophrastic - One word is used to convey an idea, like 'up' signifies that the child wants to be picked up, 'food' signifies that the child is hungry, etc..
b. Two-word - Mini-sentences with simple semantic relations, slightly more detail than holophrastic stage.
c. Telegraphic - Sentences are not yet fully functional (like a telegram, the sentence includes all the information required for sense to be made of it).
d. Post-telegraphic - Sense of grammar emerges and this is applied to create more complex sentences.
1. What is phonemic expansion and contraction? Explain why this happens.
Occurs during the babbling stage, the number of different phonemes used increases (expansion). However later on at 9 to 10 months the child discards the phonemes (contraction) that aren't part of their native vernacular as they won't need them to communicate. Studies on babies of varying nationalities support this as they make different babbling sounds.
2. How is turn-taking encouraged in early speech development? Why is it important?
Games are often used to teach the 'rules' of turn-taking, such as passing a ball between each other. Children are also told it's 'Mummy's turn' or 'your turn'. Imitation is also key in turn-taking as it signifies anticipation for a turn as well as how to respond.
3. What is a phoneme and what is a grapheme?
A phoneme is the smallest unit of distinct sound from a word and words are made up of multiple phonemes. Whereas a grapheme is the smallest unit of a word in a writing system, like a certain letter or group of letters.
4. Which phonemes develop later than others? Whose research (‘Fis’ phenomenon) suggests it is articulation rather than not knowing the difference?
Consonants at the ends of words tend to be the last to be fully developed - this is seen in the 'Fis' phenomenon as the child was unable to produce the blended phoneme 'sh'. However this also demonstrates that the child can comprehend the correct phoneme to use before they possess the motor ability to produce the sound.
5. What is a protoword?
Protowords are words (typically cv patterns) such as 'gaga' and 'baba' that mimic the real word the child is attempting to say. For example: Deb Roy's son in his transition to using the word water started saying 'gaga' then 'wawa' - the protoword.
6. What is a holophrase?
A holophrase is the first stage of meaningful speech in the prelinguistic stage, where one word is used to express a whole concept/idea (holophrasis). Eg: A child will say 'up' when they want picking up or 'food' when they are hungry.
7. What are the four categories of first words according to Katherine Nelson (1973)?
Naming things - ball, dog, cat, pen
Actions - give, put, up
Social - no, hi, bye-bye
Modifiers - nice, more, that, this
8. What is positive reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is encouraging a behaviour by giving a reward such as praise, a smile or a physical treat.
9. What is negative reinforcement?
Negative reinforcement is the act of taking away a negative stimulus as a reward for executing a desirable linguistic behaviour.
10. Explain the following stages of children’s linguistic development according to Jean Aitchison:
a. Labelling - linking words to objects and understanding that things can be given names
b. Packaging - exploring where these labels are applicable and stretching these names = over/underextension occurs until confident in meaning
c. Network-building - understanding similarities and differences in words and identifying differences
11. Explain the following stages of children’s linguistic development according to Piaget:
a. Sensorimotor - (Birth - 2 YO) Child is learning about the world through their movements. Object permanence and other ideas are learnt through assimilation and accommodation.
b. Pre-operational -(2 - 7 YO) Use words and images to represent objects/ideas, linking symbols to concepts. Very egocentric and think about things in concrete terms although their language is improving.
c. Concrete operational - (7 - 11 YO) Gain logical thinking processes, understanding conservation and applying these reasoning skills.
d. Formal operational - (12 YO +) Abstract thinking applied to theoretical problems and concepts, more ethical and social debates with reasoning.
12. What is Mean Length Utterance (MLU) and what can it tell us about a child’s language proficiency?
The mean length of utterance is a measure of the number of morphemes (the smallest unit of a word with meaning) in an utterance (an approximate sentence of speech). We assume that the higher the MLU, so the more morphemes per utterance, the more complex the speaking ability of the child.
13. Define the following stages in terms of a child’s grammatical development:
a. One word/holophrastic - One word is used to convey an idea, like 'up' signifies that the child wants to be picked up, 'food' signifies that the child is hungry, etc..
b. Two-word - Mini-sentences with simple semantic relations, slightly more detail than holophrastic stage.
c. Telegraphic - Sentences are not yet fully functional (like a telegram, the sentence includes all the information required for sense to be made of it).
d. Post-telegraphic - Sense of grammar emerges and this is applied to create more complex sentences.
14. What three stages of negative formations did Ursula Bellugi discover in young children?
STAGE 1 - 'No' put at start or end of utterance - 'no wear coat'
STAGE 2 - 'No' placed in the middle and next to a verb - 'I no like it'
STAGE 3 - Use 'don't' or 'can't' - 'I don't want to...'
(STAGE 4 - Use do not or can not correctly and precisely - 'I do not think...')
15. What does LAD stand for? Which theorist suggested we have a LAD? What is a LAD?
Chomsky's Language Acquisition Device / Universal Grammar is the idea that children have an innate sense of grammar and syntax which they apply when learning language. For example they instinctively know how to combine a verb and noun to create a coherent sentence and this is true for children of all languages.
16. What is a virtuous error? Give examples.
The mistakes a child makes when developing their language abilities, typicallt over/under applying certain grammar rules such as adding or forgetting a suffix or getting syntax slightly incorrect. Eg: I runned instead of I ran, he swimmed instead of he was swimming or he swam.
17. What are overextension and underextension? How do they contradict Skinner’s ideas?
Overextension - chid uses a single word to describe many different things:
BY ANALOGY - inferring a similarity between objects, like referring to anything round as a ball
BY CATEGORY - using one word to label all things in that category, such as calling all animals horse
18. What is Universal Grammar?
(LAD) Children have an innate genetic component to their language understanding and this device aids them in communication.
19. How are Bruner and Vygotsky's theories similar and different? Give examples and use terminology.
Both Vygotsky and Bruner value the importance of socialisation on language development. Bruner highlights the importance of CDS (child-directed speech) and believes that it's a key aid in communication for children - also referred to as scaffolding which links to Vygotsky. The ZPD is based on the principle that children have different zones to their knowledge and to reach their full potential assistance from adults is required and this is called scaffolding. Assistance can be anything from general encouragement or specific demonstration/instruction. Due to this theories, both Bruner and Vygotsky fall on the nurture side of the CLA debate.
However Bruner's theory has a slight biological link in its stage theory. Bruner believes that as children grow older their intelligent minds create different coding systems and this is the reason for certain behaviours expressing themselves at certain ages - such as a baby making a rattle shaking action w/out the rattle as in the enactive representation stage any memories are action-based. Vygotsky's theory is purely focused on socialisation and cooperative learning. As the child gets older the actions that others involve them in mature and so their development progresses.
20. How are Halliday and Dore’s categories similar and different?
Both theorists agree that child language focuses on needs and requesting actions, such as asking for a parent to do something for them however their reasons why differ. Halliday believes that these demands are used to satisfy a particular need but also to control and influence the behaviour of others. Whereas Dore simply thinks that these are demands without any motive to control or be dominant. Halliday's categories focus more on wider explanations for language such heuristic - used to widen understanding of their surrounding environment. Dore on the other hand views child speech as more basic and believes techniques are used to gain attention (calling) and to greet others rather than aid their cognitive development.
21. What is egocentric speech?
Repetitive phrases that a child speaks when alone as a method of practising what they've learnt - eg: a running commentary on what they're playing with their toys.
22. Child-led discourse?
*couldn't find anything online so I guessed*
Child-led discourse is the name given to conversation initiated by the child. They may use items in their surroundings (local topics) to base conversation on and use interrogatives to direct conversation.
23. What are some useful features of CDS to discuss in an essay and why?
GRAMMAR - simpler constructions with fewer verbs, modifiers and adjectives, links to Deb Roy's findings that just before a word is added to a a child's vocabulary, those around them use the word in basic syntactic structures
PRAGMATICS - support, signified linguistically through expansions and re-castings but also through body language. Highlights importance of socialisation and support from others to develop language rather than simply stating lang comes from a biological device. Also evidence for Vygotsky's scaffolding.
LEXIS AND SEMANTICS - increased used of dynamic verbs and concrete nouns, supports Nelson's theory of the word categories first established.
24. What does recast/reformulation mean?
Reformulation is a type of modelling in which an adult repeats back an utterance said by the child however they correct any errors. Eg: 'mummy me want the ball please', 'you mean i want the ball please'. Positively reinforces the correct uses by repeating them back and also corrects non-standard uses.
25. What does LASS stand for and whose theory is it?
Bruner's LASS was created in opposition to Chomsky's LAD - parents support/scaffold linguistic development by frequently asking the child questions and actively using their surroundings to trigger conversation (eg: paralinguistic traits like pointing). Emphasises socialisation as opposed to biology and nativism like Chomsky.
26. Define the following theories and say who the theorist(s) are for each:
a. Nativist - Chomsky, language is innate and each child has a natural sense for syntax and grammar for their specific language.
b. Behaviourist - Skinner, applies behaviourist laws of operant conditioning and reinforcement to language development.
c. Social interactionist - Vygotsky/Bruner, interaction and social scaffolding aids communication.
d. Cognitive - Piaget, language development is parallel with cognitive development and is gained as a result of children learning logic and reasoning.
e. Critical period - Lenneberg, ends around puberty when the brain decreases in plasticity, if a language isn't learnt by this point the child will never be fluent.
Tuesday, 2 May 2017
TIME TO SAY TA-RA TO AR' 'ERE ACCENTS?
*With artificial intelligence and voice recognition technology slowly being integrated into our daily lives, the dialects of Britain may be facing an accent-identity crisis*
''SIRI, tell ma, where's you to?''
''Sorry, I did not get that''
''Tell ar' ma where's she to?''
''I could not find an 'armour' in your contacts''
''Bloody 'ell, TEXT MUM SAYING WHERE ARE YOU?''
An easily recognisable struggle for any thick-accented folk out there; voice recognition technology, such as Siri and Amazon's Alexa, simply have no clue what on Earth you're on about. But will the many accents of Britain disappear before the problem does?
Making judgements and sweeping generalisations about you based on your pronunciation of the word 'scone' is something we are likely to have all done, nevertheless your voice is also unique to you and is packed with quirks that your family and friends adore. It forms part of your identity. Your linguistic fingerprint reflects where you've been and who you surround yourself with. A ComRes poll as part of an ITV Tonight investigation asked 4,000 Brits what they thought the most intelligent, friendly and trust-worthy sounding accents were and the general consensus was as follows:
RP was rated as the most intelligent sounding, Devon was labelled as having the friendliest accent and both RP and Devon were top for trust-worthiness. However across the board accents like Brummy and Scouse were generally rated as unintelligent and unfriendly, signifying these prejudices are very real and their speakers are likely to feel the brunt of it too during interviews and first impressions.
So, could accent levelling be an unconscious response to these judgements and people no longer want to be held back by their differing diphthongs?
Another explanation for this shift in dialect variation is the tolerance of technology. As mentioned previously, any Geordies or Bristolians are likely to relate to the language barrier you have between yourself and your phone - which almost always results in a poor attempt at an impression of the Queen just to ask where the closest Nandos is. But as Artificial Intelligence develops, surely it will become more tolerant of thick accents or we may have all succumbed to Received Pronunciation before this happens. John Oliver acknowledges this issue in his recent interview on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The topic of conversation shifts to language barriers and whether he, as a Brit living in the States, has suffered any awkward miscommunications due to his accent. John Oliver is quick to mention automated machines and how they 'batter you into submission' to using a 'sedated John Wayne' style American accent and other audience members agree - so the UK isn't alone here.
Protesting for linguistic individuality, HSBC Bank are embracing our quirks and have recently introduced voice-recognition passwords, as opposed to a code or fingerprint, to maximise security. Their new biometric banking system obtains data on your voice, noting 50 physical and 50 behavioural characteristics which are unique to you. Allowing you access to personal information after speaking gibberish to your phone for approximately 15 seconds. If we converge further then it'll be interesting to see whether HSBC's biometric system also suffers.
*Unfinished, unsure on how to end/round up ideas*
''SIRI, tell ma, where's you to?''
''Sorry, I did not get that''
''Tell ar' ma where's she to?''
''I could not find an 'armour' in your contacts''
''Bloody 'ell, TEXT MUM SAYING WHERE ARE YOU?''
An easily recognisable struggle for any thick-accented folk out there; voice recognition technology, such as Siri and Amazon's Alexa, simply have no clue what on Earth you're on about. But will the many accents of Britain disappear before the problem does?
Making judgements and sweeping generalisations about you based on your pronunciation of the word 'scone' is something we are likely to have all done, nevertheless your voice is also unique to you and is packed with quirks that your family and friends adore. It forms part of your identity. Your linguistic fingerprint reflects where you've been and who you surround yourself with. A ComRes poll as part of an ITV Tonight investigation asked 4,000 Brits what they thought the most intelligent, friendly and trust-worthy sounding accents were and the general consensus was as follows:
RP was rated as the most intelligent sounding, Devon was labelled as having the friendliest accent and both RP and Devon were top for trust-worthiness. However across the board accents like Brummy and Scouse were generally rated as unintelligent and unfriendly, signifying these prejudices are very real and their speakers are likely to feel the brunt of it too during interviews and first impressions.
So, could accent levelling be an unconscious response to these judgements and people no longer want to be held back by their differing diphthongs?
Another explanation for this shift in dialect variation is the tolerance of technology. As mentioned previously, any Geordies or Bristolians are likely to relate to the language barrier you have between yourself and your phone - which almost always results in a poor attempt at an impression of the Queen just to ask where the closest Nandos is. But as Artificial Intelligence develops, surely it will become more tolerant of thick accents or we may have all succumbed to Received Pronunciation before this happens. John Oliver acknowledges this issue in his recent interview on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The topic of conversation shifts to language barriers and whether he, as a Brit living in the States, has suffered any awkward miscommunications due to his accent. John Oliver is quick to mention automated machines and how they 'batter you into submission' to using a 'sedated John Wayne' style American accent and other audience members agree - so the UK isn't alone here.
Protesting for linguistic individuality, HSBC Bank are embracing our quirks and have recently introduced voice-recognition passwords, as opposed to a code or fingerprint, to maximise security. Their new biometric banking system obtains data on your voice, noting 50 physical and 50 behavioural characteristics which are unique to you. Allowing you access to personal information after speaking gibberish to your phone for approximately 15 seconds. If we converge further then it'll be interesting to see whether HSBC's biometric system also suffers.
*Unfinished, unsure on how to end/round up ideas*
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